Buffalo Rumblings
After taking their first loss of the 2025 NFL season last Sunday night, the Buffalo Bills are once again playing a game in primetime this week. They travel south to face off against the Atlanta Falcons in what could be a difficult game for both squads. The Bills are one of the league’s best offenses, but they struggled mightily last week against a tough New England Patriots defense. The Falcons, on the other hand, have a great defense and a host of weapons on offense that could give the Bills fits.
Buffalo has struggled against the run this season, and the Falcons are sixth in the league in rushing yardage this season. The Bills have been great against the pass, but they struggled to contain Stefon Diggs last week, allowing the star wideout to burn them for 10 catches and nearly 150 yards. The Falcons have multiple players who present matchup issues for a Buffalo defense that wants badly to prove that its early-season struggles are just a blip, not a year-long trend.
The Falcons have plenty of talent, so narrowing this list down to five players to watch this week was difficult. Feel free to add yours below in the comments, but here are our five Falcons to watch this week.
_____________________________________________________________________________
QB Michael Penix
The second-year man has enough arm talent, and he certainly has enough weapons around him, to make teams pay if they don’t impact him with a strong pass rush. Penix has been a somewhat frustrating watch early in his career, as there are moments where you see what I described above, but also moments of maddening inconsistency. Such is life with a young quarterback, and as Penix prepares to make his eighth career start, the Bills will want to confuse him before the snap with simulated pressure and looks. If they can force Penix to hesitate, they can impact him just enough to make the game a bit more one-dimensional for the Atlanta offense.
I’m not sure that the Bills want to ask the next man on our list to beat them, but they need to find ways to keep Penix from beating them on the perimeter. That means they’ll need a much better outing from their cornerbacks this week.
RB Bijan Robinson
Of all the fantastic offensive players Atlanta has, this is the one that should give the Bills the most heartburn this week. Robinson is a dual-threat out of the backfield, as he can run (314 yards, 4.9 yards per carry) and catch (18 receptions on 23 targets for 270 yards). Buffalo was good against the run last week, allowing under 100 rushing yards for the first time this season, but the Patriots don’t run it as well as the Falcons do, and the Patriots’ running backs aren’t nearly as good as Robinson is.
The Bills will need to stop the run, or at least limit it, so that the Falcons find plenty of third-and-long situations. If they can keep Atlanta behind...
